Avengers Assembled: Hawkeye In, Hulk Out?

Here is the good news: Jeremy Renner, hot off his Academy Award nominated performance in The Hurt Locker is in final talks to be Marvel’s Hawkeye in The Avengers directed by Joss Whedon. Everything about that sentence is exciting. Renner is a perfect fit, as anyone who saw Renner’s cavalier bomb squad specialist can attest.

Hawkeye is likely to appear as a villain in the movie, as his comic counterpart was initially. His attraction to Black Widow is likely to turn his head (along with most of the male audience) toward joining the team. Still no word on who Whedon has in mind to confront the team as the main bad guy.

Here is the bad news: Edward Norton may be out of the picture. THR reports that the Hulk may still be a character in the movie, but he might not show up in Norton form. Which is a real shame since Norton is an incredible actor and his Bruce Banner was terrific.

No word on Ant Man, Wasp, or any other second-string Avengers. They might not appear, or in smaller roles (think some of the background mutants in X-Men).

Source: The Hollywood Reporter